1. Field of Invention
The present invention is generally related to a method of and system for improving quality and size of image data. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to a method of and a system for selecting a compression scheme based on the type of image data being processed, and may include user selections such as original type of data, file size, image quality, etc.
2. Description of Related Art
Before image data is stored (and later output) to a digital output device, the image data is preferably compressed, i.e., coded to minimize the space needed to store and output the image data. In particular, due to its large size, digital image data for export or that is output to a device such as a multi-function printer (e.g., for copying and/or printing) typically requires compression.
One technique for manipulating digital image data includes segmentation (or auto-segmentation). Segmenting image data into two or more planes tends to improve compression of the image, and also allows different compression methods to be applied to the different planes. For example, it is generally known in the art that a compression scheme such as mixed raster content (MRC) (also referred to as multiple raster content) may be used by digital multifunction devices (MFDs) or printers to manipulate and compress image data (such as image data comprising mixed content such as text and pictorial data). Examples of common MRC schemes include 3-layer MRC and N-layer MRC models. Such MRC compression models are becoming increasingly popular for image storage or archiving, especially for text and mixed content documents and forms because of their increased compressibility. Alternatively, other compression methods, such as JPEG compression, may be used to compress image data.
Current devices typically apply one of the above noted compression schemes to process image data, regardless of the image data type and/or user selection of job parameters. This results poor image quality in some images, sometimes along with a poor compression ratio.
As such, a method of and a system for selecting a compression scheme based on the type of image data being processed is desirable in order to at least improve output image quality as well as file size.